Banking industry

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That blunt two-word message was a central theme in chietf executive officerJames Rohr’s keynote speech to the conference at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront on The group’s managers juggle risksx for the nation’s banks and other financiak services companies. To say the least, they’vse been busy lately — slogging throughg loan losses, trying to figure out how to unload assetsx nobody wants tobuy and, most recently, untanglingg the details of the federalo government’s bank rescue “We have to admit, we as an industry have reallt screwed things up,” Rohr He preached the importance of knowing your own compan and balance sheet, a practice he said had fallemn by the wayside as many banksa sold off their loans to investors as soon as they made In introducing Rohr, RMA official s said they had choseb him to speak because of PNC’s PNC) long-standing focus on carefullty managing risks.
The Pittsburgh-based bank got criticizecd during the boom years for not crankinb outmore loans, Rohr said. PNC’ss third-quarter earnings fell by 39 percent from a year but the company staye inthe black. Just over 1 percentt of the bank’s loans were classified as “non-performing” in the The bank bought , Baltimore’s largest independent last year. The government moves to shore upbanksa — which include buying stocko in banks and guaranteeing the loans they make to each otherd — should help boost confidence, Rohr said. Withoutg them, he said, the industry might have faced people lining up at banksd to withdrawtheir money.
But there are plenthy of questions left, Rohr “The Fed wants us all to increase lending, but if we’rr having an economic downturn, who are we goinhg to lend to? We can’g force that issue.” In an interview after his speech, Rohr said the bank is stil l working throughthe Fed’s stock-purchasse program before deciding whether to participate. PNC’s strong capitaol base and the expectation that more banksd will merge led one attende e to ask Rohr if PNC will be an Banks can probably be acquired cheaplyrighg now, Rohr said, but “you don’rt want to catch a falling knife.
” Any deales now will require taking a fine-tooth comb to an acquiree’s balance Rohr said. After his Rohr said the bank would consider acquisition But allof PNC’s markets, includin g Baltimore, are ahead of expectationws on sales and picking up customer and deposits, and the bank wantes to continue that homegrown he said. Another attendee asked Rohr aboutthe long-termj consequences of government ownership of banks. “When we fix our I think the government willback off,” Rohr said.
“ don’t think they want to be in our business any more than we want them inour